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AVMA approves AAHA's antimicrobial guidelines for dogs

Posted on Jan. 1, 2002

Guidelines developed by the AAHA for the judicious use of antimicrobials in dogs were approved by the Executive Board with two amendments.

One of the charges of the Steering Committee on Judicious Antimicrobial Resistance is the development of guidelines for judicious use. The committee has recommended guidelines developed by species groups on antimicrobial use in cattle, cats, poultry, and swine, all of which received previous board approval.

At its spring 2001 meeting, the committee reviewed a previous version of the canine guidelines developed by the AAHA and suggested revisions. Those changes were incorporated into the document submitted by the committee for the board's consideration.

The board amended the document in two places, changing "small animal practitioner" to "veterinarian," and "should" to "may" regarding the use of gram stains to determine which antimicrobial to use while waiting for culture results.